WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Lawyers have clashed in court over whether Black Hawk County had the power to approve a 35-turbine wind farm project on agricultural land. The county Board of Adjustment voted April 24 to give Washburn Wind Energy a special permit for the 70-megawatt project south of Waterloo. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that a lawyer for a farmer who sued the Board of Adjustment said in court Tuesday that Iowa law prevents the county from regulating what happens on land historically used for farming purposes.

The board’s lawyer, Brent Hinders, says the county can, however, regulate ag land when the owner wants to use it for non-farming purposes such as wind turbines. The judge will issue a decision later on farmer Harold Youngblut’s request that the judge rule the board’s action was invalid.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers got a lot of harvest work done last week, following three weeks of little activity due to nearly non-stop rain and muddy fields. The USDA crop report released Monday shows 29-percent of Iowa’s corn is out of the ground and 37-percent of the state’s soybeans are harvested. The corn harvest figure increased from 17-percent a week ago, while the soybean harvest jumped from 19-percent. Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist Daren Mueller says the wet weather in September and early October has resulted in reports of poor seed quality in soybeans. “Most fungi like moisture to grow and obviously the rains provided that,” Mueller says. “We’ve received a lot of calls on seed decay and other reports of discolored seeds, and I think this is either frog-eye leaf spot or cercospora leaf blight.”

The new USDA report rates 65-percent of Iowa’s soybeans in good-to-excellent condition and 35-percent between very poor and fair condition. Mueller says some farmers are reporting pod shatter in soybeans.
“Definitely that, and we’re also getting reports of seeds starting to germinate – both in corn and soybeans,” Mueller said. “I would say, in soybeans, having pods shatter would be the tricky thing (if) you’re not able to get into that field.”

Sixty-eight-percent of Iowa’s corn is rated in good-to-excellent condition. The USDA report notes the state’s corn harvest is three days ahead of last year, but four days behind the five-year average. Iowa’s soybean harvest is 12 days behind average and it’s also the smallest percentage of the crop harvested by October 21st since 1985.

Iowa’s unusually wet fall has created a unique situation where floodwaters are reaching fields and causing issues regarding what waterfowl hunters can and can’t do in these areas. According to federal regulations, hunters are allowed to hunt standing crops or flooded standing crops unless that field has been manipulated. That means hunters cannot hunt flooded sunflower fields that were mowed as part of the dove season, nor can they knock down or clear standing crops to create an open area for ducks to land. A complete list of federal baiting regulations is online at www.fws.gov/le/waterfowl-hunting-and-baiting.html

“Typically these fields aren’t flooded so it’s a nonissue, but it’s been an unusual year,” said Brad Baker, state conservation officer with the Iowa DNR. “It’s something that hunters need to be aware of this fall.”

Iowa duck season opened in the north zone on Oct. 13. The south duck zone opens on Oct. 20, followed by the Missouri River zone on Oct. 27.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — China’s propaganda machine has taken aim at American soybean farmers as part of its high-stakes trade war with the Trump administration. The publication last month of a four-page advertising section in the Des Moines Register opened a new battle line in China’s effort to break the administration’s resolve. U.S. farmers are a key political constituency for Trump, and Beijing has imposed tariffs on American soybeans as retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese imports.

China regularly disseminates propaganda in the West through its China Daily newspaper to try to influence public opinion in the United States and elsewhere. But the advertorial in the Register was unusual for deploying not a national publication in New York or Washington but a newspaper in the farm state of Iowa.

The Cass County Conservation Service says “Due to lack of site sign-ups” they are “regretfully cancelling the Lighted Halloween Campground including the Birthday Party. You may turn in the Birthday geocache tokens into our Office on both October 25 and 26^th during office hours,” or call the CCCB to make other arrangements.

DES MOINES, IOWA – Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 2.5 percent in September. The state’s jobless rate was 3.0 percent one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate declined to 3.7 percent in September. “The number of working Iowans is increasing, the number of unemployed Iowans is decreasing, and our great state continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation,” said Beth Townsend, director of Iowa Workforce Development. The number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 41,800 in September from 42,700 in August. The current estimate is 8,200 lower than the year ago level of 50,000. The total number of working Iowans increased to 1,644,400 in September. This figure was 1,900 higher than August and 18,200 higher than one year ago.

 Seasonally Adjusted Non-farm Employment  

In September, Iowa establishments shed 3,400 jobs. This month’s drop marks the second loss in the last three months for the state. Both goods-producing and service industries took a step back this month. Private industry showed little overall movement this month whereas government pared 3,500 jobs and is now down 1,200 jobs annually. Of the ten private sectors: four super sectors lost jobs, four were unchanged, and two added jobs in September. Leisure and hospitality posted the largest drop in September (-1,100). This month’s loss is the second-consecutive drop for this super sector which has seen only three monthly increases in 2018. All of the loss this month was due to reductions in accommodations and food services which generally drives the monthly movements. Manufacturing posted a decrease this month (-600) following no gain in August. All other losses were small and included information services and financial activities, both of which shed jobs in August also. Alternatively, gains this month were highest in other services (+1,500). This sector has not shown any strong hiring trend this year. The only other sector to add jobs this month was professional and business services, gaining 500 jobs this month at the administrative support and waste management sector.

Annually, total non-farm employment remains up 17,600 jobs versus last September. Goods-producing industries continue to fuel annual growth and have contributed 14,300 jobs over the past twelve months. Durable goods factories are up 6,100 jobs despite little movement this month. Professional and business services also continues to expand and is now up 2,900 jobs since last September. Private sector losses have been limited to just three sectors: other services, leisure and hospitality, and information.

(Radio Iowa) — A new report finds rural states like Iowa are still far behind in getting high-speed internet to all corners, which impacts the rate of growth and success. Johnathan Hladlik, policy director with the Center For Rural Affairs, says 31-percent of rural households lack access to broadband internet. He says that means those communities and their residents will be at an economic disadvantage. “We know as agriculture changes, as manufacturing changes, consistently we see micro-entrepreneurs and small business creation as being a key element to employment and strong economies in rural areas,” Hladik says. “Frankly, today, having broadband and high-speed internet is essential to a successful business.”

The center’s report, called “Map to Prosperity,” found of the more than 25-million households that lack access to broadband internet, 19-million of them are in rural areas. Hladik says coverage maps being used to determine how many people are covered in rural communities need to be re-written. “From 2011 to 2015, there was funding for each and every state to identify where broadband access existed,” Hladik says. “You could go in and you could know which addresses had broadband and which addresses did not have broadband. That was federal money that has since dried up.”

States that use less-effective methods to monitor coverage are bringing about large over-estimations about who’s covered. Hladik says that’s unacceptable when considering how much broadband can contribute to a state’s economy. “Increasing broadband access by 10% translates to an estimated 1% increase in gross domestic product,” he says, “and it shows that 80 new jobs are created for every additional 1,000 broadband users within a state or within a community.”

The center is pushing for legislation that will ensure better coverage for rural communities. Broadband is defined by the F-C-C as internet connections capable of 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) for download and 3 Mbps for upload speeds. More on the web at www.crfa.org

(Radio Iowa) — The wet weather and delayed has created problems for livestock producers who want to apply manure to fields this fall. The D-N-R’s Ken Hessenius says the rainfall has also helped fill up manure storage areas and finding a way to draw them down hasn’t been easy. “We’ve been getting a few phone calls already stating facilities are getting full, the crops aren’t out and the ground is saturated and they are either anticipating problems or maybe already having some problems — so yeah, we’re eharing all kinds of things out there,” Hessenius says.  He says there’s one easy solution they can hope for. “One of my favorites is get down and pray for nice warm, dry weather,” Hessenius says, “and actually we’re getting some of that — so that’s gonna help.”

He says there are some other things that can be done to keep full lagoons from overflowing.”You can look at some manure transfer. Maybe transfer between pits on facilities if you have some storage. Maybe look for some alternative fields if the one you are planning to put manure on hasn’t had the crops removed. Those are just a few off the top of my head,” Hessenius says. He advises you to take a look at your options and do something before it becomes a crisis. “The last thing we want to do is see these pits running over and causing problems with a nearby stream or something like that,” he explains.

That can end up doing environmental damage and be costly for producers. Hessenius says there will be issues even if the weather allows crops to be cleared out of fields that are targeted for manure. “We’re going to have some compaction out there and compacted soil and wet soil is just a bad combination for being able to uptake manure — which is 99 percent water,” Hessenius says. “Even normal manure application rates may be a problem — especially if you have some of those higher rates from dairy or sow. There may be a necessity to put on a little less so we don’t get runoff.”

Hessenius says the D-N-R can help you figure out a solution for your individual operation. “The problem with sending out a blanket statement is it just doesn’t work for everyone. Every facility is unique, every facility may have different options. Probably the best thing to do is just give your local field office a quick call,” Hessenius says.

Hessenius says the dry days will hopefully stretch out awhile and help ease some of the problems.

(Brownfield Net/Radio Iowa) — Two cities in Iowa have submitted proposals to the U-S-D-A as the agency considers new locations for the headquarters of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. According to Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the proposals are from Council Bluffs and Ames. Ames is the home of Iowa State University, a so-called “land grant” institution founded with an agricultural mission. “That, of course, elevated from Ames and the Research Park, because that’s obviously a really strong connection with the land-grant that the application talked about,” Durham says.

Durham says Council Bluffs has strong selling points, too. “That Omaha/Council Bluffs region from a population base and from a transportation grid response,” Durham says.

The Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce has submitted a bid as well, for moving the U-S-D-A facilities to the Rock Island Arsenal. The U-S-D-A’s plan to relocate the two agencies has drawn fire from lawmakers and former agency leaders, but U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue has said the relocation will improve customer service and save taxpayer dollars. The U-S-D-A’s Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture are currently located in Washington, D.C. and employ more than 600 people. About 15 percent of federal employees — including all the top decision-makers — are based in Washington, D.C. The rest of the federal workforce is spread across the country. The U-S-D-A’s National Animal Disease Laboratory already is located in Ames. The U-S-D-A has Farm Service Agency offices around the state as well.